Salmon Angling Update

Good Salmon fishing on the River Suir on Kilsheelin Beat.

Photo: This 16lb salmon took the fly, a single Cascade #10, well.

The salmon fishing on the Kilsheelin beats controlled by Philip Maher has improved in the past week with some nice fish recorded and many on the fly. Mark Corps, angling advisor with Inland Fisheries Ireland visited the fishery last Tuesday and caught and released a fine fish of 16 lb. 4 oz after a spirited battle on a floating line and a size 10 Cascade Fly. The next morning, he could move any fish to the fly so he fished an upper beat with a prawn to record another good fish of 14 lb. which was put back. Many other salmon over 10 lb. were reported to visiting anglers during the week. You can watch a video on Philip Maher’s website of the 14 lb. fish going back to the water at http://fishhunt.ie/2011/07/884/Philip MaherFishhunt
Touraneena, Ballinamult, Clonmel, Co.Tipperary, Ireland Tel: + 353 (0)58 47524 Mob: + 353 (0)87 8399345 Web:Fishhunt.ieEmail:philip@fishhunt.ie

Very good salmon fishing from many fisheries in the Lee system and many of the west Cork rivers.

RIVER LEE (ESB SALMON FISHERY)

On Monday the 4th of July and Tuesday the 5thof July, Paul Hanley, Cork, caught and released 9 fish weighing between 4 lb. and 8 lb. On Wednesday the 6thof July Bobby Flynn, Cork, caught and returned a fish weighing 4 lb. On Friday the 8thof July, Anthony O’ Reilly, Cork, caught and released 2 fish weighing 4.5 lb. and 5.25 lb.

River Blackwater

The River Blackwater fished well on Sunday because of flood and it being a spate river with 8 fish being caught that day alone. 6 fish weighed in at 9 lb. to 10 lb. each, the other two were grilse weighing 4 lb. to 5 lb. each mostly landed by local anglers mostly on the fly.

RIVER LEE

15 salmon reported for the river Lee system ranging in weight from 4 lb. to 19 ½ lb.ESB Fishery: On Tuesday the 12th, John McCarthy, Cork caught a 7 ¾ lb. salmon on the fly. On Saturday the 16th Stephen Richardson, Co. Antrim caught a salmon of 12 ¼ lb.

12 Salmon reported for the Laune and Kerry area round up

KILLARNEY LAKES AND LOUGH LEANE

FLESK RIVER

3 salmon reported from the Flesk River by local anglers ranging between 3 and 4 lb.

RIVER LAUNE BEATS 1 AND 2

3 salmon were caught on the River Laune by visiting anglers weighing 4 lb., 5 lb. and 10 lb.

LAUNE SALMON AND TROUT ANGLERS’ ASSOCIATON WATERS AND BEAT 3

As of Monday 18thJuly water back up to 2.5 feet on the gauge at Johnston's and rising also carrying some colour from the Gweestin. When it clears and settles it will be lovely water for all methods. There was a bit of a pick up during the week with fish being caught each day. There was a 10 lb. bar of silver caught in Johnston's on Monday. There were grilse seen running the river all week, Mike Spillane and Johns Turner among others managed to catch a few.
Fish of the week must go to Peter Murphy a young man who has just finished his Leaving Certificate who caught a beautiful fresh run 15 pounder on the worm on Saturday evening at Tom Johnston's. Richard Morton had some fun with Sea Trout at the Ferris fishery on Saturday evening he caught a 3 lb. fish which for the Laune is a good fish. There was a total of 12 fish reported for the week.Billy Downes,
Secretary, Laune Salmon and Trout Anglers' Association.

Specimen Sea Trout of 9 lb. taken on fly on Lough Currane

11/7/11 All anglers failed miserably to catch my Noble Game fish, mind you to be fair the elements were not in favour of we Anglers, with little to no wind, and what wind was there was coming from NNW light to calm, even though I sure the odd Junior was caught. Max air temperature 16.8°C. 12/7/11 Straight to the Salmon department Mr. John Baller of the UK and fishing out of www.butlerarms.comcaught a 5 lb. Grilse on the troll with his ghillie Mr. Neil O’Shea and www.oshealoughcurrane.comand in the Sea trout department well my sentiments are the same as yesterday.
Wind N then veered SW and veered back in to the WNW bright and sunny all day. Max air temperature 18.2°C. 13/7/11 Again the weather dictated the Salmon and Sea Trout results, and with bright sunshine and a slack Westerly wind, you can understand why my Noble Game Fish were in a lethargic mood but some anglers did see their rod bend, Mr. Pat Healy caught a fine 2 lb. Sea Trout on the troll on the south side, Mr. Roger Wilcox and Alison Young of the UK fishing with their ghillie Mr. Vincent Appleby and of www.salmonandseatrout.com caught a fine 1.5 lb. Brown Trout which I might add was put back to fight another day, and staying with the Sea Trout, there were only reports of the odd Junior being caught. Max air temperature 18.6°C. 14/7/11 Again Lough Currane Wild Sea Trout and Salmon were not in a taking mood in general, but at least some anglers did see some action and they are as follows, a guest fishing with his ghillie Mr. Tom O’Shea and tomsfishing@eircom.netcaught 3 Trout as did a guest fishing with his ghillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy. Amount of rainfall 2.1mm, max air temperature 16.4°C. 15/7/11 In the Salmon department all the headlines go to Mr. Michael Rieger of Bavaria, who caught a fine Grilse on the troll and added a Sea Trout to his basket, and his ghillie Mr. Frank Donnelly of www.lakelandshouse.comwas telling me that they also contacted 2 more Grilse. In the Sea trout a Mr. Wright, fishing with his ghillie Mr. Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com caught 3 Sea trout on the drift, and staying with the Sea trout a guest caught a Sea trout on the drift, with his ghillie Mr. Vincent O’Sullivan and of www.vincentsfishing.com as did a guest fishing with his ghillie Mr. Junior Scully. Amount of rainfall 1.6mm, max air temperature 16.1°C. 16/7/11 There may have been a strong and cold north wind with heavy showers blowing across the lake but this didn’t deter my Noble Angler from procuring my Noble Game fish and the Salmon and Sea trout results are as follows, Mr. Michael Wright of the UK caught a 6 ¼ lb. Grilse on the troll with his ghillie Mr. Neil O’Shea and of www.oshealoughcurrane.com in the hired out boat department of Waterville Boats - watervilleboats@gmail.com Mr. Michael O’Sullivan reported to me that Mr. Andy Wishard caught a 6 lb. Grilse on the troll, Mr. John Boyle caught a 2 lb. Sea trout on the drift, and the rest of Michaels hired out boats caught a total of 10 Sea trout from Juniors up to 2 lb., plus the Roberson party had a C & R of a fine 5 lb. Sea Trout. Now we cut across the Lake to the south side and the hired out boat department of www.lakelandshouse.com An angler caught one Grilse, staying with the south side and my catch of the day, and that goes to Mr. John Donnelly who caught a fine Grilse and finished his day off with a 4 lb. Sea Trout fishing with his Brother and ghillie Mr. Sylvester Donnelly Amount of rainfall 4.7mm, max air temperature 14.4°C. 17/7/11 Fishing conditions may not be the best for my Noble Sea Trout, but I can tell you Mr. Bill Rushby would beg to differ and for good reason, first Bill caught a fine Grilse and finished his day off with a fine specimen Sea Trout of 9lb. all caught on the fly, fishing with his ghillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy, and staying with the fly, Dr. Tim Gleason caught 2 Grilse with his ghillie Mr. Mike O’Dwyer, now to the trolling department Mr. Drew Brown, caught a fine grilse on the troll with his ghillie Mr. Bob Priestly. In the total Sea Trout department, not a lot to be said but to be fair there were wild conditions at times out there and most Anglers on the South side didn’t venture out, meanwhile on the North side, local ghillie Mr. Neil O’Shea and of www.oshealoughcurrane.com caught 1 Sea Trout in the Junior class, and over the past two days, Mr. Alan Dolan and Mr. Derek McHugh caught 4 Sea Trout ranging from Junior class up to 2 lb., fishing with their ghillie Mr. Tom O’Shea -tomsfishing@eircom.net and in the hired out boat department of Waterville Boats -watervilleboats@gmail.comMr. Andy Wishard caught a Sea of 1.5lb. Amount of rainfall 3.0mm,max air temperature 14.6°C.

53 salmon reported from the Galway Fishery

Water levels were ideal during the last week with one sluice gate open on the Weir. Anglers enjoyed good sport at times especially on the fly. Billy Campbell from Northern Ireland had two good grilse on fly for 4.44kg (10 lb.). French angler Marc DeVletian had a good fish of 2.66kg (6 lb.) and hooked two more during the outing! Long-time visitors to the Galway Weir Charlie Stephens, Britain, and Manfred Wilke, Germany, recorded some nice grilse on shrimp during their stay. Father and son Jack & Laurence Flood, England, had some nice grilse to shrimp and fly, with Jack recording a cracking fish of 7 lb. on the fly from the high bank! Declan Tuffy, Athenry, had a fresh run 4.44kg. (10 lb.) fish on the fly over a number of hours fishing, and hooked and lost a few more. Paul Wymes, Dublin, had two grilse on fly averaging 2.22kg (5 lb.) and John Anderson had 3 for 9.33kg. i.e. 21 lb. for an evening. The tally for the week was 53 fish.

Grilse and summer salmon are continuing to run into the system, and if water levels remain constant during the coming week anglers should continue to enjoy good sport Kevin Crowley
IFI-Galway
.email:kevin.crowley@fisheriesireland.ie

Steady grilse fishing for anglers fishing at Delphi

The fishery produced three fish on the 13th; Roger Kenny was first off the mark with a sea liced 3.4lb. fish from Finlough on an Ally Shrimp. Ollie Watkins had success at the Quarry Flats by landing a sea liced grilse of 4.2 lb. on a Cascade Ally while John Faith also had a fish off Finlough of 4.4 lb. on a Collie Dog.The 14thproduced two fish, one for Ted Maxted from the Kings Pool of 2 lb. on a Collie Dog while Ollie Watkins struck again by landing a stale springer of 6 lb. on an Annagram off Doolough. The 15thproduced three fish; Andreas Beerlage had a sea liced fish off the Rock Pool of almost 3 lb. on an Ally Shrimp while Ciaran Boland had a lovely sea liced 4.8 lb. fish off the Turn Pool on an Itchin Shrimp. Finlough proved successful for John Faith once again, who landed a sea liced 3.7 lb. fish on a Purple Shrimp.Anglers continued to enjoy good sport throughout the weekend, with 6 salmon on the 16thand 7 on the 17th, although angling on the lakes was difficult due to strong north westerly winds. Sean McCullough, Nenagh, managed to land two nice fish on Saturday, both sea liced. The first was off the Turn Pool on a Cascade weighed 6 lb. and the second also on a Cascade from the Quarry Pool was 5 lb. Mick Kelly and Joe Hosey had one grilse each also off the Turn Pool on a Silver Stoat and a Cascade. Liam Dunne managed to land a sea liced 3.3 lb. fish off Finlough on a Green Peter and Delphi’s own Mick Wade also had one off Fin of 5.9 lb. on a Delphi Collie.Sunday started well for George and Helen Westropp who had one each off the Turn and the Whin. George’s fish was just over 5 lb. and Helen’s was 3.6 lb. Both were sea liced and caught on a Cascade. Ken McMillan and Alan Boyd had one each off Fin Sunday morning weighing in at 6 lb. and 4.9 lb., both on Shrimp flies. Helen Westropp managed her second of the day off Fin weighing in at 5.1 lb. Peter Bowles and Mike Shortt had one each from the Whin Pool and the Rock Pool respectively weighing in at 3lb. and 2.9 lb.. They were both taken on Collie Dog’s.

Extreme weather conditions hamper good fishing on Lough Inagh

Two weather extremes this week. Monday to Friday was flat calm with little or no wind and water, but by Friday night it changed to a storm with constant rain and gusts of 50 to 60 mph. As a result of the extreme weather there was very little fishing, and fish caught. 3 Salmon and 14 Sea Trout were landed for the week.

The Recess Anglers held their inaugural "Tom Joyce Memorial Cup" on Lough Inagh on Saturday 16 July. 17 anglers fished in a storm and the cup was won by Willie Kelly with a salmon of 4.5 lb. Thomas Burke was second with a trout of 2lb. and Stephen Joyce was third with a trout of 1.75 lb. There was 5 Salmon lost also that day, and I can imagine the gusty wind played its part in the losses.Paul Cran(Dublin) had a 4lb. grilse from The Derryclare Butts on a VanBeck Special, and Jack Meredith(UK) also had a grilse of 5.5lb. from The Butts on a Silver Stoat.Sean McCloskey(N.Ireland) fished Inagh in the calm earlier this week and had 3 Sea Trout to 3lb. on a Green Octopus.At time of writing there is a good flood and there are plenty of Salmon and Sea Trout entering the lake, which bodes well for the coming week or so.Interested anglers are advised that places are becoming limited in the coming weeks and booking is advisable from Lough Inagh Lodge 09534706/0868679459

35 salmon of which many were sportingly returned to the river and some 32 sea trout were reported from the Erriff.

Fishery manager Jim Stafford reports from the River Erriff that water levels were very low from Monday 11thto Friday 15thJuly. The river was baked in bright sunshine and few anglers fished the river. However, despite the poor angling conditions Mrs. Eva Hompesch, Germany took a sea liced grilse in the Sea Pool on Beat 9 on the 11th. The weather pattern totally changed on Saturday 16thwith heavy rains and storm force winds. Water levels rose quickly and soon the river was in excellent condition. Mr. Jean Boidron, France caught an 8 lb. fish on a Cascade in the Boat Pool on Beat 5. Mr. Gerard Gamier also from France caught 4, his best fish 8lb. caught on a Cascade in the Quarry Pool on Beat 2. Mr. Ken McMillan & Mr. Andrew Boyd caught one in the Coronation Pool and the General's Rock on Beat 9. Mr David Williams, U.K. had 3 all from Beat 9 and Mr. Will Masterson also from the U.K., had 2 from Beat 6 his best 7.75 lb. taken on a Cascade from the Colonel's Pool on Beat 6. The Bann Special was successful for Mr. Steve Smith, U.K., who caught a fish of 8.75 lb. in the Hawthorn Run on Beat 7. The following day Steve caught 4 fish in the Sea Pool on a Tosh tube fly.

Mr. Andrew Beattie a regular angling visitor from the U.K. had a personal best catching 6 fish in one day with all fish were taken Cascades. Mr. G.Kerschbaumer, France had 2 fish on a Cascade and an Alley Shrimp. Mr. Jim Laffin, N. Ireland had one on a Gold Cascade from Wanklyn's Dam. In all 35 salmon (many of which were sportingly returned to the river) and some 32 sea trout were taken in the period. At the time of writing the report water conditions are excellent with the Aasleagh Gauge reading 1.5metres. Both rods and accommodation are available during the coming week. Contact James Stafford, Aasleagh Lodge +353 (0)9542252 or e-mail: erriff.fish@iol.ieKevin Crowley
IFI-Galway
.email:kevin.crowley@fisheriesireland.ie

Steady grilse fishing reported at Kylemore.

Low water conditions in the early part of the week deterred anglers; despite this the first catch of the week went to young Henry Strawson on the 12th, his first fish from Kylemore which weighed 5 lb. The Fishery was quiet for a few days mid-week; however, angling did improve following the rain and on the 16thfive salmon were caught. Geoffrey Fitzjohn enjoyed good sport with three for his day, all under 7 lb., while Richard Stevens and Ger Henehan had a grilse each. Fifteen sea trout were reported for the day also, all under 1 lb.

Angling effort was slight on Sunday, but three anglers accounted for three fish, two of 4lb. and a 10lb. salmon for Geoffrey Fitzjohn, who lost a further two. Kevin Crowley
IFI-Galway
.email:kevin.crowley@fisheriesireland.ie

A great angling day for Juveniles fishing on the Cathedral beat on River Moy

Photo: Roland Capouillez, Belgium, enjoying great success on his first day angling on the Moy Fishery

Inland Fisheries Ireland - Ballina held their hugely popular Juvenile anglers day on the Moy Fishery’s Cathedral beat on Thursday 14 July as part of Ballina Salmon Festival. This special event is one of many held throughout the country as part of IFI’s policy to promote angling for young people.The day was extremely well attended with 74 youngsters from 5 to 16 years of age fishing with great enthusiasm throughout the day. IFI staff provided life jackets, fishing tackle, coaching and advice for the aspiring anglers.

Fishing commenced at 8 am just as the tide began to recede from the salmon beat and it wasn’t long before the day’s first salmon was caught. The fish was landed by a young Austrian angler Mathias Stuppacher, and was his first ever salmon. A second salmon was caught less than an hour later by Nickolas Eracleous from Bray, Co. Wicklow. For the remainder of the day a few flounder and a small sea trout and brown trout were the sum total of the catch. Prizes were presented to the successful anglers and the day finished up with goodie bags for all attendees. Elsewhere on the River Moy, the Moy Fishery enjoyed good angling for the week, with 33 salmon caught on the Ridge Pool. Walter Norton had two salmon on the fly, as did Martin Davison, N.I. Michael Mills, England, had one of 6.35 lb. while Jim Cleland, N.Ireland, caught a fine fish of 10.58 lb. Nine salmon were caught on the Cathedral Beat, with Roland Capouillez, Belgium, enjoying great success on his first day angling on the Moy Fishery. Roland caught and released two grilse, with a further fish of 9 lb. retained. The Spring Wells and The Point also produced a few salmon.

Upstream, the Ballina Salmon Anglers’ water produced good returns, as did Mount Falcon, the Knockmore and Attymass waters. Byrnes’, Armstrong’s and Gannon’s fisheries also enjoyed a good week, with Andy Major among those to have success with a 7 lb. fish from Gannon’s to the worm.

The Foxford Fishery had a very successful week, with over 60 salmon reported. Markus Elsenberger and party from Germany enjoyed great sport at the Foxford Fishery, where they caught a total of 39 salmon over three days, while regular angler to the area Hans Ulrich Bender, Germany, caught and released two grilse to the fly.

Rinanney also had a very productive week, with over 50 salmon reported, including one fine fish of 14 lb., caught by Philippe Roux, France on the prawn. The Cloongee Fishery experienced one of its quietest weeks of late. However, Thiery Colum, France caught and released three, with Rod Dembenski, England landing one of 6 lb. The East Mayo Anglers’ water fished relatively well for the week, despite catches being down from previous weeks. Hans Ulrich Bender again had success on the fly with two grilse here, while Andre Babic, Germany, and Nicholas Garcias, France, also had one grilse each.

Sea Trout Moy Estuary

Reports indicate that catches of sea trout have been erratic on the Estuary of late, with changing weather conditions impacting on angling. Despite this Judd Ruane reports over 30 trout for the week, including 6 for the Grosskopf family, Austria, while Steven Shaw and Pat Greham, U.K., had 5 up to 2.5 lb.Bryan Ward
IFI-Ballina
.email:bryan.ward@fisheriesireland.ie

Another great Juvenile angling day on the Ballisodare River

Photo: Ciara O’ Neill who was fishing for the first time had a magnificent salmon weighing 7.06 lb. to win “Best Lady Angler”

On Thursday last 14th July, the Ballisodare Angling Club held its annual juvenile angling event which attracted the largest gathering of underage anglers to date. This day which is kept free every year by the club has gone from strength to strength over the years and has become a very popular event for the young anglers in the greater Ballisodare area. This year over 90 anglers turned up over the 12 hours of angling and all were given assistance and coaching in the various angling methods of worm, shrimp and fly fishing by club members and IFI staff. These young people demonstrated their flair for fishing as over 50 salmon were landed during the day, an exceptional return for any fishery on a single day.

There were a multitude of cups to be won and at the presentation that evening 23 young anglers received their reward for their hard work earlier in the day. The winner of the heaviest fish was Joseph Davey with a fine 8.8 lb. salmon which was caught on the “Cascade” fly. Joseph was presented with the perpetual cup sponsored by Thomas Donovan of “Ballisodare Free Range Eggs”. Shane Kelly grandson of retired Fishery Officer, Michael McSharry landed first place in the visiting anglers section while Ciara O’ Neill who was fishing for the first time had a magnificent salmon weighing 7.06 lb. to win “Best Lady Angler”. Paul Costello had a fine 7.17 lb. fish on the fly to take the title of heaviest fish for a club angler while Ian Naughton, Aaron Scanlon and Rebecca Stokes also collected prizes on the day. Daniel Meehan had the distinction of claiming first place in the “smallest fish” category and Annabel Moore received a special award for being the youngest angler on the day.

The Ballisodare Club and IFI would like to acknowledge the help from the numerous volunteers who came along on the day. With safety of paramount importance and with many children to watch the task of managing the event was made much easier by all who came to assist on the day. Their patience and good humour ensured that the day was a great success. The support of all who sponsored the event is gratefully acknowledged. It was a job well done and we look forward to July 14th2012.Bryan Ward
IFI-Ballina
.email:bryan.ward@fisheriesireland.ie

Newport River

The Newport River produced 5 salmon for the week, all on Sunday the 17th. David Nevin had a 9 lb. salmon while Martin Hughes had fish of 7 lb. Graeme Wright caught one of 6 lb.; Eamon Kennedy enjoyed good sport with a 9.5 lb. salmon and 6 sea trout which were returned. Finally a Mr Baranowski caught a 7 lb. salmon.Bryan Ward
IFI-Ballina
.email:bryan.ward@fisheriesireland.ie

Carrowmore Lake

Due to strong winds angling conditions have not been great on Carrowmore Lake. Only 5 salmon were caught last week including one each for Noel Napier and Henry Jameson, Belfast, of 7 lb. and 6 lb. Eamon Giblin, Co.Clare also had one of 7 lb. Other anglers met some sea trout, including Vincent Roche, Ballina, who had 2 to the boat.

Burrishoole

Burrishoole experienced good angling last week with a total of 8 salmon caught on the fishery, including three wild fish caught and released. Reports are that there was a good number of grilse showing in the lake. Martin McCoy, Co.Derry, was the most successful angler of the week, he had 3 salmon over three days, with his best fish 3.7 lb. Tim Aldiss, UK, Paul McGivern, Kieran Jordan, N.Ireland and David Nevin, Newport, all accounted for one fish each. 14 sea trout were also caught and released. Bryan Ward
IFI-Ballina
.email:bryan.ward@fisheriesireland.ie

Small numbers of grilse reported from the River Drowes

17/07/11: There were good water levels in the Drowes all week once again. The river was reading 0.58 metres on Monday on the gauge at the Four Masters Bridge. The level fell somewhat but rose again at the weekend due to fairly heavy rain which meant that by the end of Sunday the gauge was reading near 0.60 metres again. There was a fair run of grilse but it seems most of these headed directly to Lough Melvin. The fishery was not particularly busy. Most of the visiting rods were those staying at the Lareen accommodations and there seemed to be few day visitors.

There were a number of fish recorded for the week however. Given here are some of the catches recorded for the week. On Monday, Sean Reagan recorded a 3lb. grilse caught on prawn from the Sea Pool. On Wednesday, William Miller accounted for a 5lb. grilse caught on a fly from The Meadow. On Thursday, William recorded another fish caught. This was a 4lb. grilse that fell to a fly in The Meadow. Mary Teresa from Spain recorded a 4lb grilse caught on a Toby spinner from the Sand Hole. On Friday, Arthur Rafferty accounted for a 4lb. grilse caught on a fly from the Sea Pools. John O’Neill logged a 4lb. grilse caught on a fly from Briney’s & Eamon McCallion recorded 2 grilse caught on shrimp from the Mill Pool weighing 4½ & 5lb. On Saturday, Chris Coulter registered a 3lb. grilse caught on shrimp from the Long Hole.Lindsey Clarke
IFI-Ballyshannon.email:lindsey.clarke@fisheriesireland.ie

Some nice salmon reported at the weekend on the Owenea Fishery

17/07/11: The river ran at very low levels all week until the weekend when we received some decent rainfall. The river had a small flood on Saturday (0.22 metres) and a good flood on Sunday (0.40metres) though the day saw the river rising after 10am which meant that no fish seemed to have been caught after this time. The gauge average for the week read 0.15 metres. The fishery was not particularly well attended with only 18 visiting rods fishing over the week with all but 2 of these fishing at the weekend. There were a number of salmon caught at the weekend. Adrian Whelan accounted for 2 salmon caught from beat 8 on a spinner. These fish weighed 10 & 12lb. Gordon Young accounted for a 10lb. salmon caught from beat 8 on a spinner with another local lad landing a 7lb. fish. Rain is forecast for the early part of next week and prospects are looking good. Lindsey Clarke
IFI-Ballyshannon.email:lindsey.clarke@fisheriesireland.ie

For info/bookings etc on the Owenea Fishery –
Tel: 074 9551141. (9am to 1pm April to May & 7am to 1pm June to Sept).

Valuable prizes for sea trout anglers in 2011

Sea trout anglers on the east and south coast of Ireland, the west coasts of Scotland, England and Wales and on the Isle of Man have an excellent chance to win one of the many valuable prizes on offer in a free prize draw by collecting scale samples from any sea trout they catch in 2011. The Celtic Sea Trout Project (CSTP) is incentivising anglers to take samples of scales from any sea trout they catch over the season in specific “priority” rivers.
The priority rivers are:

A £500 (€582) tackle voucher prize to the angler submitting the most scale samples from any CSTP priority river in 2011.

Three £350 (€407) tackle voucher prizes to each of the three 3 anglers who return the most scales from priority systems in 2011 within each of other three regions: Ireland (inc NI), Scotland and IoM, Wales, or NW England

Ten £100 (€116) tackle vouchers to be awarded to 10 anglers to be drawn at random from the remaining scale samples submitted. (this includes samples submitted in 2010 and those from non‐priority rivers within the project area)

There are major unanswered questions in the understanding of sea trout, namely:

where do they go at sea and how are their stocks structured and interlinked?

what is their marine ecology (feeding, growth, survival and life history variation)?

what environmental and other pressures are they exposed to?

how do their life histories (and thus fishery quality) respond to environmental variation?

The CSTP intends to provide this missing knowledge and to translate it into fishery and conservation benefits for countries bordering the Irish Sea.
The scales are important samples for this major research project which commenced in late 2009. Interpretation of scales from river and marine caught sea trout will contribute much to understanding some of these questions as they will provide very important primary information for analysis of river-specific life histories and growth rates. The scales will also be used for novel studies including genetic analysis (so called genetic finger-printing) to characterise individual river stocks, and for micro-chemical analysis to identify the freshwater origins of sea trout and, specifically, to determine their marine feeding areas within the Irish Sea, based on specific chemical signatures deposited within the scales.

Scale collection is difficult because, apart from fish traps, of which there are only three across the whole CSTP area, the sampling of adults in rivers has to be done by angling. This is an extremely important element of the project and anglers are encouraged to participate fully so that sea trout can be better understood which will help to conserve this fascinating migratory trout. Scales from sea trout of all sizes, from the smallest to the largest, over the full extent of the angling season are requested and can be taken easily using the basic scale sampling kit which is provided free of charge (see www.celticseatrout.com for more details).

The project is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland-Wales Programme (INTERREG 4A). The main project partners are Inland Fisheries Ireland, Bangor University, University College Cork and Environment Agency Wales.

The winners will be chosen based on the scale samples submitted to us before 31st March 2012. The prize draw will take place on the 1st of April 2012. Winners will be contacted directly.

Trout Angling Update

A fine specimen brown Trout of 11 lbs. caught and released on Lough Leane in Killarney

Photo: An 11lb trout caught on the troll from Lough Leane

From an e-mail, Mr. Philip Ryan from Clogheen Co. Tipperary with his son Eoin & friend, caught this beautiful 11 pound trout on Lough Leane Killarney on Saturday 9th July. The fish was weighed and released back in to the lake after a quick photo.

Very little fishing activity reported from Lough Sheelin.

The tell-tale signs of water filled boats dotted around Lough Sheelin was a fair indication of how the lake is being fished at the moment. Fishing was slow with very few anglers venturing out, the weather is not helping with high winds and wet conditions at the weekend.There were however marvellous hatches of sedge on the lake and an abundance of perch fly. The Sheelin trout have plenty to feed on and for now are not interested with what our anglers are trying to tempt them with but still plenty of fish are on the move and some nice trout are being caught.Friday evening saw the best fishing with masses of fish rising in the centre of the lake. A small sedge was the most popular fly.A catch and release policy is actively encouraged on this lake at all times.

Fishmaniaks a polish angling club based in Ireland will be running a competition on Sunday July 24th from Finea from 8am to 4pm. They will be fishing artificial lures. Anyone interested in this event should contact Mirek at 087 9825553.

25 catches were reported for the week. Paddy Delaney from Baileboro, Cavan had the catch of the week with his 3½ lb. trout caught on a sedge close to Church island.Brenda MontgomeryIFI - Limerick
Lough Sheelin OfficeEmail: brenda.montgomery@fisheriesireland.ie

Trout angling on Lough Acalla and O Flynn exceptionally lively

Trout angling on Lough Acalla and O Flynn was exceptionally lively with anglers on Lough Acalla in particular reporting excellent fishing. Bag limits were easily attained in both lakes. There were big hatches of sedge. The best fish on Lough O flynn was a beautiful trout of 3 lb by the lakes best known angler, Bernard Mannion from Castlerea. Bernard had the fish on one of his own tyings which is still a secret in the area. Bernard also would be catching and releasing up to 15 fish on visits to O;Flynn
Prospects for Acalla and Lough O' Flynn over the coming 2 weeks should be excellent as big stocks of fish still remain in both lakes.
Best fish on Acalla was a 2 lb by Micheal Bradley from Ballinasloe to a pheasants tail.John Ryan
IFI – Limerick Email:john.ryan@fisheriesireland.ie

Trout being caught on the Mayfly on Loughs Conn and Cullin.

Some anglers are continuing to enjoy success on the Loughs, with fish still coming to dry Mayfly and Spent patterns. Angling out of Pontoon Bridge Hotel, Glen Kelleher, Claremorris, had one trout trolling while Thilo Theisen, Germany had one to a may fly pattern. Angling on Lough Cullin Charles Corbett, Co. Wicklow, fishing with Hugh McMahon caught and released 10 trout for a day. Young anglers Cormac and Oisin McCormac had one trout each while trolling an Octopus. Also fishing on Lough Cullin, Patrick Timoney, Co. Dublin, had 3 trout with his best 1.5 lb.

Angling out of Gerry Murphy’s, Massbrooke, Rory Murphy, Co. Laois had two trout on spent may flies, Mick Sweeney and Liam McHugh had 2 trout each to Claret Dabblers. Philip Gresham, Castlebar and boat partner Jane McGahon, Dundalk, had three to the boat on the Claret Dabbler and Olive Bumble. In the northern section of Conn, angling out of Gortnorabbey, Kay and John McBride, Dublin, had 10 trout to the boat, all to black flies. Fishing from Crossmolina Jeffery Brown had 3 trout, his best 1.5lbs.

From Enniscoe Fishery, Donal Hurley, Dublin, had one to a Royal Wulff while boat partner Adrian Gallagher also had one.

From Kelly’s of Cloghans Bay, Lawson Clements, Co. Sligo, had 2, his best 2 lb. while Peter Roche, Cloghans had one on a dry Bumble. Patrick Kelly had 2 trout for 3 lb. on a Claret and Mallard. Adrian Murphy had 2 for an evening while his son Brendan had one while trolling an Olive Bumble.Bryan Ward
IFI-Ballina
.email:bryan.ward@fisheriesireland.ie

Some fine trout reported from Lough Arrow

Some anglers enjoyed great fishing on Arrow of late, with some excellent trout caught. John Stone had 2 trout of 2 lb. each while Francie White had a great trout of 6 lb. 2oz. Thomas Walsh also had a fine fish of 5 lb., with all fish falling to the Green Peter.Bryan Ward
IFI-Ballina
.email:bryan.ward@fisheriesireland.ie

Ballin Lough fishing reasonably well

The lake continued to fish reasonably well last week, with 9 rods for the week catching a total of 18 trout (11 of which were released). David Michaels and boat partner, USA, fishing on the 13thJuly caught 7 rainbow trout, their best 3 lb.Ken Kelly and boat partner caught 7 trout, with 6 released with their best weighing 4 lb. James Joyce and Millie Stonebridge, Co. Derry, caught 9 trout and released all. Most successful flies of the week were Dabblers, Bibios, Black Pennel, dry Wulff and the Cruncher. Bryan Ward
IFI-Ballina
.email:bryan.ward@fisheriesireland.ie

Good catches of Sonaghan Trout reported from Lough Melvin

17/07/11: There was little salmon fishing effort on Melvin this week and consequently, little to report on this front. There was however very good Sonaghan fishing reported from Tuesday to Friday. Anglers reported good catches of Sonaghan on wet flies from the deep water marks off Garrison, at the schoolhouse and off Ross point. There were catches of up to and including 18 fish with many of these being decent fish over the size limit. The weekend was quiet probably due in great part to the horrible weather conditions that prevailed.Lindsey Clarke
IFI-Ballyshannon.email:lindsey.clarke@fisheriesireland.ie

Rainbow Trout to 14 lb. 3 oz. reported from the Cashel Trout Fishery

Cashel Trout Fishery report by Marlene McLaughlin

Although the weather has not been the least bit encouraging anglers still tried their best to make a few catches. Feeny’s Brian McGinnis released two trout which took an olive cat’s whisker. Young Daniel Reilly (Maghera) had a great time catching a real clinker weighing 3lb. 4 oz and then went on to bank six more which fell to bloodworms and buzzers. Vincent Doherty and Christopher McKinley (Donegal) banked twenty between them with Vincent taking one home which weighed 2lb. 9 oz. These trout fell to Bibios and Daddies. Dungiven’s John Hasson released fourteen trout over two short days using dries and the f-fly. Jay Higgins released three which took the green nymph and a mallard. Jim Russell (Monkstown) and his daughter Louise Dougan (Glengormley) had an enjoyable day using the Kate McLaren. Accompanied by their friend, Danny Walker (Monkstown) they bagged two trout each and released seven others which all weighed an average of 2.25lb. Dungiven young anglers Shea Irwin and Shane Irwin released three trout each which took the wee Montana and a few lures. Young eleven year old Cathair Mc Gilligan and his fourteen year old brother, Fiontan (Dungiven) did very well bagging a trout each for home which weighed a total of 5lb. Not bad for beginners eh! Pat McGettigan (Drumsurn) bagged five trout weighing 14lb. 3 oz. and released an excellent fourteen which fell mainly to the yellow dancer. Martin Bradley used suspender buzzers to trick his eight beauties.

Coarse Angling Update

Angling report Lough O Flynn and Suck catchment

Coarse angling on the river suck was lively over the past number of weeks.
In the lower Suck system increased number of anglers reported bags up to 20 lbs, At Lanesborough and Ballyforan bags to 15 lbs.
Good pike fishing was also reported on the Ballyforan area with a fish of 25 lb caught upstream of Timber bridge.

Excellent Bream fishing for a group of Dutch anglers fishing at Melview Lodge

Gerrit Hendrik Jan Jacobs, Paulus Alphonsius Peters, Jan Gerrit De Grootwere over from Holland for their second visit to Ireland and Melview Lodge. the week mainly produced good Hybrids, Roach and small Bream. Using the feeder fished at distance on the last few days produced some better fish to 5lb, Kevin said the lads had to fish in some tough conditions but still managed to catch some nice fish.

Fishing in and around the Longford and Strokestown area has been very good, at the time of writing some Bream and Tench have been showing for some Anglers from Wexford and Kent in the UK. The weather has been mixed, however the better fishing has been during the rain and high winds with Bream and Tench to 5lb. Both feeder and float tactics proved to do well, tune in next week and we will see how the anglers staying this week done.Kevin Lyons,Melview Lodge,
Drumlish Road,Clonrollagh, Longford, Co. LongfordTel:+353(0)43-33-45061 Mobile:+353(0)87-268-7441E-mail:info@melviewlodge.comWeb:www.melviewlodge.com

Excellent catches of Bream, Roach and Hybrids at many venues in the Cavan Leitrim area

An English angler is reported to have bagged 160 lb of big bream some weighing 7 to 8 lb on the old Peg 8 on the match section at Killykeen. Good bream also on the Erne River at Sallaghan Bridge and some perch up to 2.75 lb. Lisney at the Derries and the neck at Gulladoo are also reported to be giving good catches of fish. The deep waters at Kevin’s Shore and Dernaferst are producing catches of 30 to 40 lb of mostly roach with some fish up to 1.25 lb and some good Bream were reported at Gulladoo. Fishing is quite good in the Cootehill area with plenty of bream and roach featuring in catches. Drumlona has been fishing particularly well with up to 100 lb. a day of bream, roach and hybrids and 50 to 60 lb. catches were reported on most days on Lough Sillan near Shercock.

McHughs

Photo: Gary Smith with one of many tench caught recently at McHughs Lake.

Gary Smith reports that some fine tench up to 7.2lbs have been caught in McHughs Lake, Mohill. Fishing here has been steady of recent whilst tench have been spawning late in the Mohill area. As you can see this tench is full of spawn. Alice Murtagh
IFI – Ballyshannon
Corlesmore Office, Co. Cavan. Email:alice.murtagh@fisheriesireland.ie

“A Family Angling Weekend”
July 23rd & 24th 2011

The National Coarse Fishing Federation are delighted to announce that Killeshandra, Co. Cavan will once again play host to the largest coarse angling event in the Republic of Ireland. This year’s All Ireland will be hosted by NCFFI affiliated Killeshandra Anglers Club.

The All Ireland is the longest running coarse angling competition on the island of Ireland and has been run now for over 50 years. It is worth noting given that the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland run this event the Senior & Ladies All Ireland are two of only three recognised sporting awards for the individual in Irish Coarse Angling.

The town of Killeshandra is set amongst the picturesque drumlins of Co. Cavan, it offers the some of the best natural coarse angling venues in Ireland this is one of the main reasons Killeshandra was selected to host Ireland’s most prestigious coarse angling event. Bream, Hybrids and Roach are all common place with the odd Tench turning up. Fáilte Ireland, the Irish Tourist Board, has designated Killeshandra as a Centre of Excellence for Coarse Angling. Killeshandra is the only town in the Northwest of Ireland to be selected. Fáilte Ireland has provided training and workshops to the local tourism providers in the area in order to enhance the services provided to anglers in the local area.

July Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th will see Three Championship events be run over the weekend and with the All Ireland’s designed with family in mind, July 23rd will have the Junior All Ireland taking place on Town Lake, which as its name suggests is in the town centre. The Junior All Ireland is run over three hours and has three separate divisions with Under 18, Under 13 and Beginner; the beginner section will receive coaching from our nationally recognised trained coaches and it’s also worth noting that the Junior All Ireland is open to both boys and girls.

Sunday the 24th of July will see both the Ladies and Senior All Ireland event take place, Lough Oughter will undoubtedly host the event with places like Killykeen and Eonish being possible venues, final confirmation of venues will not be announced until a couple of weeks before the All Ireland as too allow for weather conditions and more importantly angling conditions.
The NCFFI’s expectations for attendance of this event will be over 100 Senior and Lady Anglers and given that close to 130 fished last year’s All Ireland we may even exceed all expectations. This will give a fairly substantial pay out to those good enough/lucky enough to be in the places.

There are also a number of other events on in Cavan around the same time, with the Belturbet Festival taking place from Monday the 25th to Friday the 28th and if you hadn’t had enough of fishing by that stage the Clones Festival runs from Saturday the 29th to Monday August 1st.

If you would like information or to pre-book for the All Ireland you can contact myself, Eoin Schweppe, by phone- +353 (0)86 0515597, by e-mail- pro@ncffi.ie , or on Facebook- Coarse Angling Ireland NCFFI’s.

Please note the following change to list of sections:-

Ladies Section: - 10 Pegs – Lower Derries, Sean Reilly’s Shore
EoinS

For anyone interested in taking part registration will be from 8 am to 8:45 am the draw will then take place from 8:45 am to 9:30 am this will be held in the local Community Centre and fishing will be from 12 pm to 5pm. The presentation will take place in Collette's Lounge & Bar.

There will be live bait available on the morning and just like the 2010 Junior All Ireland people may be required to cleanse their nets.

Section C & D Sandy Point
Section C:- Peg 1 follow road to left at first barrier and continue up to peg 25, foot access through forest will be signposted at peg numbers
Section D:- Peg 1 at 12 pegs to left (north) of Sandy Point and continue to pegs to right of Sandy Point

Super Pollack fishing for a group of Dutch anglers shore fishing on the Beara Peninsula

If the end of June was the week of the ray then the beginning of July became the week of the pollack as our guests took advantage of some lovely weather to go ‘rock hopping’ and find some excellent shore fishing.

Edwin, Tony, Ferry and Martin from Holland are relative newcomers to spinning but took to it like proverbial ducks to water and rather than wander about just fished one rock mark and in a hectic afternoons fishing caught 38 pollack with a lot of fish in the 4 to 6 pound range and topped by a super duo of 8 lb. and 9 lb. 2 oz. All the fish were weighed on registered scales. During their weeks holiday they also caught huss and ray to 5 lb. and wrasse to 3 lbs.

Marcus Dean from Manchester visited the Beara last year with his girlfriend and was so impressed with the fishing that he returned this year with brother Nick for some serious fishing. In the early part of the week they caught ray to ray to 6.5 lb., conger to 9 lb. along with the usual collection of doggies and huss. A switch to float fished rag produced wrasse to 3 lb. but the last two days were spent concentrating on the pollack and fishing marks which are rarely if ever fished they found plenty of obliging fish. On their penultimate days fishing they caught over 40 pollack to 6 lb. 14 ozs but hit the jackpot on their last day with a fantastic catch of 70 fish topped by one of 7 lb. 4 ozs.

The bulk of the pollack caught during the week were taken on rubber sandeel imitations which was understandable with the large shoals of sandeels seen in the area.

Dave and Tony from Camberley, Surrey were over for their annual weeks holiday and took a good variety of fish including ray to 5.5 lb., wrasse to 3 lb., pollack to 6.5 lb. and an excellent conger of 16 lb. which went in some small way to make up for the one estimated to be at least 40 lb. which was lost at Dave’s feet. He knows where it lives however and has vowed to return and catch it next year.Paul HarrisDromagowlane House
Anyone looking for information on fishing on the Beara can contact me at dromagowlanehouse@eircom.net or ring me on +353 (0)27 60330.
Web sites: www.dromagowlanehouse.com and www.bearaseafishing.com

Great video of shark catches on Tigger off the Beara

Photo: Adrian Sparrow caught our first blue shark of the season at 112lb.

The fishing here has been very good so far this season with good numbers of Haddock, Cod, Ling and Pollack coming from concentrated patches of ground to the south west of Beara. The Cod fishing generally is the best we have known it in the last ten years with fish into double figures not uncommon on each trip we do. Same story as other places is that the Mackerel are hard to come by although as i write this they seem to be finally coming in to the shore.
On July 3rd a group of lads from Rush had a great day of general bottom fishing. Between five rods the sport was constant all day except for high water slack. Best Pollack 11lb, Best Cod 9 1/4 lb, best Haddock 4 3/4lb and best Ling at 8lb. It has to be said that so far we haven't boated many double figure Ling but there seems to be an abundance of 5-10lb on the ground.

Photo: Michael Holuj from Rush with a 9 1/4lb Cod

Our first shark trip of the season was on the 13th July which is unusually late for us, we had originally planned to go a week earlier as soon as the surface temp exceeded 14 degree celcius, but we decided to give ourselves a better chance by leaving it a week as water temp wasn't there until a week or so ago. Mackerel were very scarce so we took along our own frozen Mackerel as back up along with some farmed salmon frames. My new hand mincer made short work of it. with a few other ingredients including sardine oil and some animal blood the new compound slow release rubby dubby was ready to go!!!
We use mackerel and salmon as baits on the hooks, we use size 8 circle hooks now for all our sharking as we find that nine times out of ten they are hooked in the scissors and are easy to de- hook.

The ground fishing was pretty good throughout the day too with plenty of Haddock Codling and Whiting taken for the freezer.

We ended the day with three Blue Sharks, Adrian Sparrow caught the first of the season at 112lb (An Irish Specimen) , John Angles with the second at 75lb and Peter Lynn with the third at 55lb. The 2nd and 3rd Sharks were both on at the same time as seen in this video.

All sharks were tagged and released, (tag can be clearly seen in the pic).

Photo: Whiting of 2lb 14oz for John Angles

John Angles also had a near specimen whiting of 2lb 14oz whilst ground fishing. Two rods fished the bottom for Haddock Cod and Whiting for the second half of the flood tide.
Give us a shout if you fancy some Sharking or general ground fishing, there is plenty of availability between now and the end of the season. John AnglesTigger Pro-charter Offshore 31. 330 HP
Inches House and Resaurant, Eyeries, Castletownbere, Co. Cork. Tel: +353 (0)27 74494 or +353 (0)86 3983586Email:info@irelandseaangling.com Web:www.irelandseaangling.com

Good shark and deep sea fishing in the Union Hall area.

We are having some fantastic shark fishing out of Union Hall Co. Cork since the start of the month. Our first day out on the first of July we had 3 fine blue sharks. We headed out again last Tuesday the 12thof July and experienced our best day on the shark ever. We boated, tagged and released 20 blue shark to just over six feet. At one stage we had a shark on the line and four others were mouthing the rubby dubby bin. At 2.30pm we decided to call it a day and on our way home we observed shark swimming on the surface along our rubby dubby trail.This is going to be a record shark season without doubt.Tom Collins Jorree Jade ChartersReen Pier, Union HallTelephone: +353 (0)87 2792983 0r +353 (0)86 8259171Email:info@jorreejadecharters.ie Web:www.jorreejadecharters.ie

Bill Ryan, angling guide in west Clare reports on some recent shore fishing in the region

Photo: Mike McClunie, Hokitiki, New Zealand with a fine Wrasse

Before the weather turned foul I managed to get some shore angling in.A friend of mine Mike McClunie from Hokitiki, South Island, New Zealand spent a few days rock fishing with me.We had excellent Wrasse fishing at Bridges of Ross and also at a rock mark near Doonbeg.In one session we had 10 Wrasse each; around the 3 lb. range with best 3 lb. 12 oz. coming to Mike on crab.

Photo: A Mullet of 3lb. 12 oz on fly

I fished under George’s Head in Kilkee with Fly and had several Pollock when conditions allowed me down to the lower rocks.I had some expert tuition from Fly Fishing Guide and Instructor, James Flannagan, Doonbeg during which I caught my first mullet ever on a fly! This is sport fishing at its very best! I went back during the week to a mark near Doonbeg and had a Mullet of 3 lbs. 12 oz. on fly.James can be contacted at - Mobile: +353 (0)87 2454653Email:jfjamesflanagan@gmail.com.

Photo: A Pollock on fly from Kilkee

The scarcity of Mackerel is very worrying. Both at Dunlickey and at The Bridges of Ross it has been very poor. Any one catching anything at both of these venues has to compete with seals which strip the mackerel from the trace on the way in!Bill Ryan Shore Angling GuideQuerrin St.,Kilkee,Co. Clare.
Tel: +353 87 4130122
E-mail:info@chillwithbill.comWeb:http://www.chillwithbill.com

Super 300 lb. Porbeagle Shark wins our Catch of the Week at Red Bay

Charter skipper Hamish Currie reports on some recent fishing for his clients fishing out from Red Bay in Co. Antrim.

Photo: A lovely porbeagle shark for Hamish

Last week I decided to try a new area for porbeagle shark just 22km north of red bay it’s a piece of ground I had been looking at for some time in 170ft. of water dropping off to 360ft. and we had a few of them but the talking point of the day was the one that got away it was fought for over 2hours and we didn’t even get to see it as it dived very deep and I think the mono came into contact with rock.

Photo: This 2m porbeagle wins Brian Menary Catch of the Week.

However, Brian Menary from Bangor, Co. Down finally caught a very big Porbeagle Shark at well over 2 metres and this fish was estimated at around 300 lb. This fish wins our Catch of the Week.Hamish CurriePredator II
Red Bay Stormforce 9.1 Rib Web: www.predatorireland.comEmail: info@predatorireland.comTelephone: 028 2177 1828 Boat: 07720440117